Member of Taliban Supreme Council in charge of the Medical Committee as of Jan 2011

3. Biodata:Mullah Abbas Akhund was born 1963 in Khas Uruzgan District, Uruzgan Province. He is a Achakzai-Durrani Pashtun from Spin Boldak, Kandahar, but Resident of Shahi Nawa,Uruzgan. Afghan and Pakistani madrassa student, he served as a commander in Harakat-Inqilab-I-Islami (Islamic Revolution Movement) lead by Nabi Mohammadi. Studied in various madrassas in Afghanistan before seeking refuge in Quetta [Pakistan] in 1979. He was wounded three times in the anti-Soviet jihad. The Karzai Administration planted the info that he should replace Tayyab Agha as the head of the Taliban Office in Doha, Qatar. (20130327) Akhund is on theUN Sanctions List ID: TI.A.66.01.

Mullah Abbas is clearly the heavy weight on the teams in terms of someone who was and is senior politically and was an active frontline commander pre-2001.

More Background:
He is a former health minister of the Taleban. Till recently, he headed their important Health Commission which has been negotiating with international health and humanitarian organisations for access to areas under Taleban control to enable immunisation campaigns, to ensure Taleban wounded are treated, and that the dead get transported to their homes. He has been one of the diplomatic faces of the Taleban to the international community, especially those working in the humanitarian field. He has turned also from being an antagonist of Pakistan and its intelligence services to one of its friends, reportedly developing cordial relations with the Pakistani government after being appointed by the Taleban as its main liaison with Islamabad around 2012. He is often confused with Mullah Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanakzai, a member of the Qatar-based political commission.

An Achakzai from southern Afghanistan, Abbas was rumoured twice to have become the head of the Political Commission in Qatar, replacing the veteran confidant of Mullah Omar, Tayyeb Agha. The reports turned out not to be true. However, Abbas has tried to unseat Agha from his post by accusing him of corruption among other things and reportedly was supported in this by Pakistan. The charges against Agha turned out to be unsubstantiated. Abbas’ taking over the Qatar office would have secured Pakistan a huge influence over the peace process. Mullah Abbas does move between Qatar and Pakistan, and he was in Doha during the opening of the office in 2012. However, he is not a member of the Political Commission). Mullah Abbas’s attendance at the Murree meeting appears to have been because of his links to the Pakistani government; his participation was reportedly approved by Akhtar Mansur after the initial agreement as someone who had helped facilitate the meeting by being a credible go-between.